Through-wall flashing



Feb. 25, 1958 w. H. STOVALL THROUGH-WALL FLASHING Filed June '11, 1953INVENTOR William Harold Stovoll ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,824,528Patented Feb. 25, 1958 lice THROUGH-WALL FLASHING William H. Stovall,Richmond, Va.; Savings Bank and Trust Company, administrator of theestate or said Stovall, deceased Application June 11, 1953, Serial No.361,006

Claims. (Cl. 108-26) This invention relates to flashing for masonrywalls and, more particularly, to sectional interlocking throughwallflashing that is permanently adaptable for engagement and disengagementwith a sheet material such as that of which a roof is made.

Through-wall flashing has been used in masonry construction for manyyears. It fundamentally consists of a sheet of waterproof material whichis incorporated into a masonry wall within a layer of mortar between twocourses of masonry to prevent the downward seepage of moisture throughthe masonry. This downward seepage of moisture is damaging to themasonry because it causes cracking and damage in freezing weather andalso permits the entry of moisture into the building. EX- amples offlashing commonly used which extend completely through the wall aredisclosed in the Cheney Patent No. 1,715,000 and the Orth Patent No.2,182,877. A simple form of interlocking metal flashing is disclosed inCheney Patent No. 1,871,585. Most of these types of flashing have raisedconfigurations transverse to their longitudinal axis to serve as meansfor key bonding the mortar under the flashing to the mortar above theflashing thereby eliminating any possibility of longitudinal or lateralshifting of the masonry due to the presence of the flashing.

The use of the various types of through-wall flashing known to the arthaving transverse ribs or configurations for the purpose of key bondingtwo masonry layers together has been unsatisfactory in the respect thatwhen a protruding portion of the flashing extends from the wall and isto be bent down to overlie a roof layer or window opening, the usualvicissitudes of a building operation result in repeated bendings andstraightenings. This causes fatigue breaks at the stress concentrationpoints located at the transverse ribs. Even after an installation iscomplete, it may be necessary to bend the throughwall flashing back andforth in order to remove sheet material of which a roof is made fromunder the flashing for replacement or repair. This fact creates thenecessity of inspecting the flashing after each installation or repairjob and soldering up each small separation that has developed along theedge from the bending.

I have designed an improved through-wall flashing retaining the valuabletransverse rib construction, which is relatively inexpensive tomanufacture and easy to install and use and which eliminates thedifliculties attendant with the use of the unimproved types of flashingreferred to. 1 iv invention provides interlocking throughwall flashimthat can be produced in sections of relatively short length and has aninterlocking means which permits the mechanica joining together of thesections :so that there will be no moisture seepage through thejointures without the necessity of soldering the joint. In addition, itprovides a. flashing which has a continuous uniform longitudinal grooveor channel running along one edge so that roofin material or other sheetmaterial may be inserted into and removed from the continuous ill)longitudinal channel without the necessity of bending the flashing.

The invention, therefore, comprises a flashing for masonry walls whichis made up of a series of interlocking sections of flashing extendingcompletely through the wall. Each section has incorporated within ittransverse key bonding means to bond together the layer of mortar intowhich the flashing is incorporated and a longitudinal channel along oneedge of each section into which a layer of sheet material may beinserted and removed. The channel of each section has a cut-away portionat each end so that the adjacent uncut-away end of the adjoining sectionwill fit right into the cut-away portion when the sections areinterlocked thereby producing a uniform channel along the entire lengthof the interlocked sections of flashing.

Specific embodiments of my invention are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an individual section of my newinterlocking flashing;

Fig. 2 is a partially cut-away perspective view showing in greaterdetail the cut-away portion of the channel;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional View taken along line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a channel constructionalternate in cross-section but similar in cut-away to that shown inFigs. 1, 2 and 3.

Referring now to the drawing in greater detail wherein like charactersof reference denote similar parts in all the figures, Fi 1 shows acomplete individual section 1 of my new flashing. The section 1 is madeof a sheet material such as sheet aluminum or copper and has impressedupon it transverse configurations such as 2, 3, 4 so that when thesection is imbedded in mortar the configurations will firmly key bondthe flashing within the mortar and the mortar layers both above andbelow the flashing will be key bonded to each other. The specific keybonding structure illustrated is shown in U. S. Patent 1,715,000 and theinterlocking between sections is similar to that shown in U. S. Patent1,871,585. My invention, however, is not limited to these structures,but may be used with other transverse-ribbed flashing, for example, thatshown in U. S. Patent 2,182,877.

A crimped flange 5 along one transverse edge of each section is providedto engage with the correspondingly crimped rib 6 spaced inward from andadjacent the other transverse edge of the immediately adjoininginterlocking section (not shown on the drawing). On the longitudinaledge of each section 1, adapted to engage the roof or other sheetmaterial 7 is a longitudinal channel aa which will form a part of acontinuous channel extending the complete length of the flashing whenthe necessary numbers of sections are interlocked to produce the desiredlength. This uniform and continuous channel is produced by cutting out aportion L minus X of the channel aa' at one end of each section 1 sothat the uncut-away portion L of the channel a-n' of the next sectionwill be accommodated when interlocked.

The number of key bonding configurations such as 2, 3 or 4 is not acritical part of the invention and any number or size of thesetransverse configurations can be used as desired. However, in order toattain a proper interlock that will be a good mechanical jointure andkeep moisture from penetrating through the joint to the lower masonry itis advantageous to form the interlock by making the uncut-away portion Lof the channel a-a and the cut-away portion L'X the same dimensions. Solong as the length L+X as shown in Fig. l is greater than the length Lthe sections will interlock properly and the channel aa will be uniformand continuous throughout the length of the. entire flashing.

Fig. 3 shows the most advantageous form of my invention having thechannel a on the outside of the flashing section 1 so that sheetmaterial 7 is easily inserted into the channel a or removed when it isdesirable to do so. i

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of my invention which has the channel aon the inside and the sheet material 7 is brought up in the inside andengaged with the section 1 by bending over the end of the sheet material9 and hooking it in the channel a.

In the construction of a masonry wall flashing section such as 1 areinterlocked by engaging the downwardly crimped flange 5 with downwardlycrimped rib 6 in such fashion that the uncut-away portion L of channela-a' of one section fills the cut-away space L'X of the adjacentsection. The length L overlaps the joint and provides a moisture-proofmechanical joint and eliminates the necessity of solder. The interlockedsections, such as 1, are then incorporated into a masonry wall. The edgeof sheet material 9 such as roofing material or side flashing may thenbe inserted into the channel an throughout the length of the flashingand removed and replaced without the necessity of repeatedly bending theflashing back and forth. This eliminates completely the disadvantages ofthe commonly used types of flashing having transversely disposed keybonding means which develop separations at the points of multi-thicknessfrom bending and rebending when the sheet material 7 is installed orremoved.

While I have described new and novel through-wall interlocking flashing,it is understood that the drawing and description are to be interpretedin an illustrative rather than a limiting sense, since variousmodifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the inventiondefined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A flashing for a masonry wall comprising interlocking sections offlashing, each of said sections having an embedded portion for extendingsubstantially through said wall and a downwardly extendingcounterflashing portion substantially perpendicular to the embeddedportion, a channel opening downwardly and extending longitudinally alongthe counterflashing portion adapted to receive an inserted edge of sheetmaterial, said channel having a segment cut out of one end thereof of Llength, S'fold key-bonding means extending substantially trans verse tosaid wall across the embedded portion for'keybonding the adjoiningmasonry layers together and continuously across the counterflashingportion, the S-fold key-bonding means at the uncut-away end of thesection being of L width and the S-fold key-bonding means at thecut-away end of the section being greater than L width and having adownwardly disposed flange extending across the entire section at theend thereof adapted to interlock with the first S-fold of the adjacentflashing section.

2. A section of interlocking through-wall flashing for a masonry wallcomprising an embedded portion for extending substantially through saidwall and a downwardly extending counterflashing portion substantiallyperpendicular to the embedded portion, a channel opening downwardly andextending longitudinally along the counterflashing portion adapted toreceive an inserted edge of sheet material, said channel having asegment cut out of one end thereof of L length, S-fold key-bonding meansextending substantially transverse to said wall across the embeddedportion for key-bonding the adjoining masonry layers together andcontinuously across the counterflashing portion, the S-fold key-bondingmeans at the uncut-away end of the section being of L width and theS-fold key-bonding means at the cut-away end of the section beinggreater than L width and having a downwardly disposed flange extendingacross the entire section at the end thereof adapted to interlock withthe first S-fold of the adjacent flashing section.

3. A building construction comprising, in combination, a masonry wall;an edge of sheet material; a flashing of interlocked sections, each ofsaid sections having an embedded portion for extending substantiallythrough said wall and a downwardly extending counterflashing portionsubstantially perpendicular to the embedded portion, a channel openingdownwardly and extending longitudinally along the counterflashingportion adapted to receive an inserted edge of sheet material, saidchannel having a segment cut out of one end thereof of L lengths, S-foldkeybonding means extending substantially transverse to said wall acrossthe embedded portion for key-bonding the adjoining masonry layerstogether and continuously across the counterflashing portion, the S-foldkey-bonding means at the uncut-away end of the section being of L widthand the 3-fold key-bonding means at the cut-away end of the sectionbeing greater than L width and having a downwardly disposed flangeextending across the entire section at the end thereof adapted tointerlock with the first S fold of the adjacent flashing section.

4-. A sheet material flashing structure for use in masonry wallscomprising a plurality of similar interlocking and overlapping sections,each of said sections being formed from a continuous sheet and includingan embeddable portion normally extending generally horizontallysubstantially through the wall embedded in the mortar of a jointthereof, a counterflashing portion normally extending generallyvertically and downward from said embeddable portion along a face of thewall, S-fold for key bonding the mortar layers above and below theflashing extending continuously across both said embeddable portion andsaid counterflashing portion normally generally transverse to the wall,and a channel normally extending generally vertically havingsubstantially parallel sides formed in said counterflashing portion bybending the material thereof along one or more bend lines substantiallyperpendicular to said folds, all of the material forming saidcounterflashing portion up to the bend line nearest the embeddableportion being cut-away for a pre determined distance from theoverlapping end of each section whereby the channel on each saidoverlapping end is provided with a recess to receive the unreccssed endof the channel of the adjacent and underlying section and to formtherewith a continuous substantially uniform channel the entire lengthof the flashing structure, and the distanee from the underlying end of asection to the 8-fold in said section adjacent thereto beingsubstantially L, the distance for which the counterflashing portion iscut'away from the overlapping end of a section being substantially L,and the distance from the overlapping end of a section to the 8-fold insaid section adjacent thereto being greater than L by at least the widthof an S-fold, whereby an overlapping section may be interlocked with anadjacent underlying section without disturbing the latter or distortingthe former.

5. A flashing structure according to claim 4 in which the edge of eachsection at the underlying end is formed with an upwardly extendingcrimped flange continuously thereacross and the edge of each section atthe overlapping end is formed with a downwardly extending crimped flangecontinuously thereacross.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,715,000 Cheney May 28, 1929 1,728,955 Cheney Sept. 24, 1929 1,871,585Cheney Aug. 16, 1932 1,947,131 Levow et al. Feb. 13, 1934 2,182,877 OrthDec. 12, 1939 2,469,840 Orth May 10, 1949 2,641,203 Coleman June 9, 1953

